Vt. trash bill loaded with bottle bill, bag ban

Plastic grocery bags would be banned

A bill to push recycling and stop trash from going to landfills has been caught up in a Vermont Senate committee in a debate over expanding the bottle bill and adding a ban on plastic grocery bags.

The House passed a bill in early March calling for a study of how various waste streams are handled and setting goals for banning recyclable materials from landfills.

But as the Senate Natural Resources Committee finished work on the measure on Friday, it added two amendments. One calls for a ban on plastic grocery bags, while the other would expand the state's deposits on beverage bottles to include plastic water and juice containers.

Prospects are uncertain for the amendments when the bill moves to the Senate floor.